Street Fighter The End
by Black Lothlorien
Summary: FINISHED Ryu, Ken, and Chun Li have to face a nightmare world at the request of Interpol. Very Short Story. Not meant to be good. LoL
1. Part 1

_The end._

_Kind of a strange way to begin a story, isn't it? It's weird for two different reasons. One, it isn't the end…it's really the beginning. And two, because no matter how badly we failed, we always fought back, and no matter how badly our spirits were wounded…we never gave up._

_Ken and I discovered the mysterious force called the Li-Kang Power one day while hiking in Japan, a few days after I had finally convinced him to come there for a sort of reunion. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't._

_But I should really let the story tell itself…_

"Aw, c'mon, Ryu, you're falling outta practice," Ken laughed as he flung his hands up, blocking his sparring partner's latest attack. Ryu, the tall, broad-shouldered Japanese street-fighter knew that he was joking.

Neither of them looked like they were even close to becoming weaker. Ken, habitually wearing his normal red, was still, perhaps even more, athletically looking than the last time his friend had seen him, leaning against his motorcycle on the shore. Ryu knew that he, himself, looked equally as…well, buff.

Ken launched an attack of his own, but no matter how hard either of them tried, neither could out-match the other.

Finally, Ken just sat down, hard, and began to laugh. Ryu collapsed next to him and joined him.

"Look at that!" Ryu pointed, chuckling still, "We were fighting for nine minutes straight! No wonder we're both tired out!"

"Speak for yourself," Ken grinned and stood, reaching out to help his friend up.

Chun-Li stepped into the room, clapping as the nudged the door closed with her hip, "Very impressive, boys."

"Hey, Chun-Li! We haven't seen you in forever!" Ryu gained his feet.

"Yeah, I know," She smirked, crossing her arms over her gray t-shirt.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still with Interpol," Ken grinned and went over to the bench, reaching for his towel to wipe the sweat from his face, "Did the job fall through?"

She laughed, "No way. I was sent to tell you guys of a force that has been developing around here. Magnetic sensors in orbit are picking it up and it's scrambling international communications like mad. I thought that I should find you two."

"Magnetic? I'm not a science wiz, Chun-Li, but that says something pretty powerful, right? Anything like the Psycho Power that Bison used on us last time?" Ryu took a quick sip of his water.

"I can't tell you for sure. All I know is that it's centered in the mountains," She shrugged, "Anybody up for a hike?"

Ken and Ryu both groaned at the same time.

"Ah, the free mountain air, the bird singing, not a cloud in the sky," Ken took a deep breath, spreading his arms. Even that little gesture stretched the red button-up tightly over his chest, "Makes you wonder, huh?"

"Wonder what? If you're gonna get hit by a falling rock?" Ryu jabbed him in the side good naturedly, his grey hooded sweatshirt proudly displaying the words 'Property of Ming-Shai Gym, XXXL.'

"No, about the horrible things that always happen when life is this good," His comment was unnaturally serious for him, but he managed to put it into humorous context, "And why Chun-Li didn't come with."

"She said that she'd meet us near the top, remember? She went ahead because I had that morning class to teach," Ryu chuckled, "You could have gone ahead with her, you know. Maybe worked out a few of those old-guy-kinks in a sparring match."

Ken punched him lightly in the shoulder and they began to walk again, their jeans swishing in the quiet mountain air. Ryu began to notice the swishing more and more often, then it hit him that there was no other noise.

"Ryu…buddy…"

"Hey, Ken…"

They both began at the same moment. Each had sensed the same thing.

"Birds?"

Ryu shook his head, "Something's weird around here. I guess the 'whatever' is scaring away the other wildlife."

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain where the wind went," Ken retorted, suddenly becoming very on edge. He held out his hand to silence his friend, then turned off the path, climbing up into the bushes.

Ryu waited for a few moments, then he threw caution to the wind and followed his friend. He did not see Ken, but he did see a small trail and hear the light footsteps of the American ahead on the thin track. He shrugged and followed, not willing to call ahead and ask him to wait.

After a few minutes, he was about to break the silence and call ahead when he saw Ken, motionless, standing in the center of the trail.

"Ken?" He came up behind him and was about to touch his shoulder when he turned and grabbed his wrist.

Holding a finger up to his lips, calling for silence, Ken jerked his head towards the clearing that stood before them. It was dark, despite the sunlight that filtered merrily through the other tree leaves, and they could both feel an aura of cold radiating from it.

"What do you think it is, Ryu?" Ken whispered.

"Let's find out," He pushed past his friend and stepped over the threshold of light and dark. A hand shot out of the blackness and clawed at him, trying to find his face or heart. Ken pulled Ryu back just before another hand tried to grab his ankle.

The hands would sound better if they called them talons. Their claws were inches long and blood-red, and the skin was a grayish red that reminded Ryu of a dying whale. Even as they watched, transfixed, more hands slipped from the blackness and reached and slashed, as if trying to find some trace of them.

Out of the middle of these claws appeared a face…female and framed by black hair that seemed alive in itself. At first, Ken thought that she was very beautiful…that is, until her jaw unhinged and she snarled at them with a mouth full of rows of razor sharp teeth.

"Holy shit!" He dove backward as the head shot forward on a neck that was longer than he was tall. The teeth nearly tore off his hand, and would have gotten him if Ryu hadn't uppercut the neck.

"What the hell is that, Ryu?" He demanded, though he assumed that his friend probably would not know.

"Do I look like I know? It's coming after us!" Ryu and Ken made to dive into the forest, but hands closed over their ankles, tripping them, "Damn!"

Ryu tore at the three talons that had him around the legs, kicking, struggling, trying to get away. But the more he struggled, the more they dug in, tearing his jeans into shreds. He managed to kick one off, then two…

Ken, still struggling with his own talons, lent his own arm pressure against the last grip on Ryu's leg. They finally snapped the fingers, freeing Ryu.

Ken let out a whoop of triumph, then returned to face his own problems. Ryu couldn't make it close enough to help, for more and more hands shot out of the veil of blackness, trying to ensnare him. He dodged them, but there were always more.

"Ryu—!" Ken's cry for help was choked off by the shriek of the head. It dove forward, locking its jaws on Ryu's arm. As Ryu tried to pry the jaws off, blood began to appear on Ken's arm as well.

_They were sharing their injuries…_

"Ryu! Get out of here! Get Chun-Li!" Ken's grip on his last piece of hope, a tree root, was rapidly failing, "Get Giles!"

His eyes flaring in anger, Ryu swore and put all his strength into one shove, breaking the creature's jaw. It screamed and withdrew into the darkness, talon-hands quickly following…

Ryu dove for Ken's wrists and he was barely able to snag his wristwatch.

A talon shot out, knocking him back. The watch came with him as Ken was dragged into the darkness.

Heedless of what danger lay within, he dove into the blackness, groping for any sign of his friend, one hand still clutching the watch. He called out Ken's name again and again as he searched the ground.

A beam of light hit him full in the face and he rocked back on his heels, surprised.

"Out of our league a little, huh?" Chun-Li knelt in front of him, lowering her flashlight. Her blue shirt and black jacket were smudged with dirt and her face was smeared with a small dab of blood from a broken lip.

"You're in here too?" They stood.

"Yeah. I went in after my backpack," She admitted wryly, tossing a broken strap into the darkness, "But I couldn't find it. Seems that this clearing is a hell of a lot bigger on the inside than it is on the outside."

"How could that be? I mean…" Ryu rubbed the back of his neck, something he did when he was confused.

"Where's Ken?"

His face went pale, "You didn't hear us fighting?"

"Nothing until I saw you pawing around like a lost puppy," She shook her head.

"A monster with hundreds of arms grabbed us and dragged him in," He raised his arm up for her to see the needle-like punctures in his arm, "I thought for sure I'd be able to find him or at least hear him."

"Things are really weird in here," She turned towards the center of the blackness, "But we need to find Ken and my backpack. I had a very special stone in that pack, and I know that Ken will need our help."

"What do you mean by that?" He followed, absentmindedly noticing that the bite marks on his arm were healing twice—no, three times—as fast as normal.

"One of the rocks I had was a magical stone, something called a scrying gem," She turned the flashlight beam this and that way through the blackness, but it never extended more than a few feet, "Kind of like a camera bug that you can aim anywhere and see what's happening."

"Let me guess. You looked in here," Ryu guessed and was rewarded by a nod.

"I saw hell, Ryu, worse than hell, monsters, demons everywhere, as if this was a doorway into another dimension," _Oh, so _now_ she tells me…_ "I saw people in here, trapped. Whatever is in here is building an army. And the door is closing."

"What do you mean, closing?" He demanded.

"That bubble of darkness is twice as small as it was when scans first detected it," She sighed and was almost about to give up with the flashlight, "If we don't get those people out before it closed, they might be trapped forever."

"Ken's sunglasses…" Ryu bent down and plucked them from the ground. They were broken and shattered, not like he'd seen them last, hanging from Ken's shirt. They seemed like they were covered with a sort of ash.

"We must be going the right way," They picked up the pace and began to run, but unwilling to begin yelling, for fear of alerting the talon creature to their presence. A red glow began to emanated from the floor ahead of them, then there were more, each human sized and shining at different intensities…

The first that they stumbled on surrounded a young woman, and they say more people, all buried beneath the floor wreathed in a glow. One man they saw was missing an arm, which looked like it had been brutally ripped off. His glow was faint.

There was another young man, but his glow was bright red. He looked in fairly good condition. An older man lay nearby, the glow around his body brighter than the injured man's, but not by much.

The bodies lay with no logical order, as if they had just been laid wherever. They began searching the forms, looking for a familiar face.


	2. Part 2

"Oh, Ryu…" Chun-Li gasped and knelt by a body that was glowing faintly, though stronger than most of the others. 

It was Ken, and the mirrored bite marks in his arm were surrounded by malignant tissue, turning green and yellow with infection. His face was pale, but in repose, and he seemed to be asleep.

Chun-Li reached out to touch his face, and her hand slipped through the floor as if it had not finished hardening after the arm-creature had deposited him there. It felt as if she were reaching through goop, the faster she forced her way through, the harder it felt, "Look at his arm, Ryu…We need to get him out of there."

"Wait! Get back!" Ryu snatched the flashlight away and flicked it off. He pulled her arm out of the floor and they retreated back into the darkness.

The arm creature returned, its jaw hanging limply, and one hand's fingers broken. It stopped by Ken's 'grave,' then moved towards the one where the man had a missing arm. Plunging a talon into the goop, the red energy flared, then faded to black.

The jaw re-hinged and mended, as did the fingers. The creature disappeared into the blackness once again.

The body that had once laid there was a skeleton now, one arm missing. Chun-Li looked at Ryu. They moved in unison, reaching down for Ken. 

"Chun-Li, look at his arm!"

The infection and injury was gone, as if magically healed. The two would-be rescuers looked around at the other glows, many of which had just been revived. Ryu glanced down, "Do you think that the monster is healing them?"

"Don't know, don't care. Let's get Ken out, so he can help us get the other humans out of here before that octopus thing gets back," She trotted back to Ken's 'grave' and reached out, trying to grab his arm.

Ken's eyes flashed open.

They were white…

His hand flashed out, closing around her throat. She tore at his grip as he cut off her air supply, straining for breath. Ryu dove to help her, realizing that the other bodies were coming alive as well.

One by one they pulled themselves from the floor, climbing out onto the solid ground. Their eyes were all black, completely solid orbs of color…Ryu found himself wondering why their eyes were black and Ken's were white…but he had no more time to speculate.

Even skeletons had risen from the ground, breaking through a shell of goop that had hardened over them from the lack of body heat. The one with a missing arm was the closest of all the rising bodies…

"Ken—"Ryu grabbed the hand that was griping Chun-Li's throat, "I hate to do this, man—"

He brought her wrist down on his friend's shoulder as hard as he possibly could. The pop of the bone pulling out of the socket resonated in the blackness, and his hand fell numb. Chun-Li pulled away and stood, staring at the black-eyed people around her. Ryu backed away as Ken pulled himself to the solid ground.

His mouth turned up into a smirk, "About time you got here."

"Ken? You're still in there!" Ryu was held back by Chun-Li, "Let me go!"

"Ryu! Listen! That is not Ken!" 

'Ken' chuckled, "Smart, but not enough. This indeed is the body of your friend, though his soul is far, far away."

"What are you talking about? Who the hell are you?" Ryu demanded. 

"If you want to save the humans, you must compete," The puppeteer spoke with the American's voice, and it was beginning to get on their nerves, "Fight him, and kill him. Only then will these people go free."

"I won't kill my best friend!" He snapped back, "Whoever you are, you're insane if you think that I would kill Ken!"

"To save him, you must kill the other humans here," 'Ken' gestured broadly, the red button-up ripped open, revealing the black t-shirt underneath, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, isn't that right?"

"You sick bastard," Chun-Li snapped angrily, "Why Ken? Why did you attack any of these people?"

"I needed bait, to get the Warriors of the Hadou Ken into my realm," The American's face twisted into a sneer, "You are obstacles that rise in my future path. With you dead and under my control, covering the world with darkness will be a simple task."

"You tricked us!" Ryu snapped, "You dragged us in here so you could get us to kill each other! What the hell are you on? Ken would never kill me, and I would never kill him!"

"And Chun-Li?"

Ryu glanced at the woman, "What about her?"

"Would she kill one to save the others? I can restore them all to life and functionality, erasing their memories of this nightmare," The puppet's voice became soft and coaxing, "They could return to their normal lives, and you would have saved thirty good, hardworking men and women."

Ryu was stunned, but not completely surprised, to see Chun-Li look at the people surrounding them, back to Ken, then to the people again. Her eyes moved to rest on Ryu.

"Undecided? What about children?" The red-clothed arm swung back, "You like children."

Three small figures walked quietly out of the darkness into the red glows. One was nothing more than a baby, clutching a teddy bear, barely able to walk. The oldest was a child of three…maybe even two…with large black, glossy eyes.

Ryu gasped when he saw the children.

"And I would set them all free, returning them to normal as soon as you agree to fight and kill your friend," The voice was quiet and smooth, brining tears to Chun-Li's eyes, "I will set five of the people free right now as a gesture of faith. Behold."

He pointed to a section of the blackness as five figures, the skeletons and one live human, walked away into the void. The blackness faded and lightened until Ryu and Chun-Li saw the outside, what existed beyond the black boundary.

The second that the skeletons passed through the bubble, flesh was made whole and clothed. All five people came to, their eyes returning to normal. They glanced around, confused, and ran when they saw the bubble behind them.

"I have proven my trust," The puppeteer said softly, "Would you waste the lives of the rest of these humans…these children?"

Now even Ryu was undecided.

"Well?"

'Ken' raised his hand towards one of the children, who began to choke and strangle, whimpering in pain.

"Stop it…" Ryu whispered.

The puppet grinned.

"I'll do it!" Ryu cried, "Just let them go!"

The child was released, and he fell to the ground crying. The creature that had taken over Ken gestured to the other humans, and everyone but six left. In the lightened darkness, Chun-Li and Ryu saw them leaving.

"What about these six?" Chun-Li demanded.

"One for each round."


	3. Part 3

Chun-Li paced around their cell impatiently. There were no doors, windows or floors, only blackness and confusion. There was still something keeping them in there, for Ryu was sitting on a block of solid blackness, his hands clenched, his mind working continuously over what he had just agreed to do.

"Why…" He kept asking himself, tears welling up in his eyes.

"R-Ryu?"

The voice came from somewhere in the darkness around them, but the voice was unmistakable. 

"Ken?"

"Oh God, Chun-Li, they got you too?"

"Ken, is that really you?" Ryu stood, his voice uncertain.

"Who else would it be?" A chuckle.

"Are you all right?" Chun-Li began to follow the voice, tracing her hands across the 'wall,' trying to find a break or window or something.

"A little roughed up, but my arm healed super fast," He sounded excited, "So let's go, Ryu. Let's break out and send these bastards back to hell."

"There's—no door." Ryu finished lamely.

There was silence.

"Ken?"

Silence.

"What's wrong with you, buddy?" Ken's voice was suspicious, "I've never heard you act this way before."

"Ken…"

"Ken, there's more to this than just breaking out," Chun-Li interrupted.

"What happened?"

"They…they want Ryu to kill you in a fight. In exchange for the lives of the other people trapped in here."

Silence again until Ken's quiet voice broke.

"So that's it…"

Chun-Li found the window, and when she looked through, what she saw broke her heart. Ken sat down hard on the block of blackness, leaning forward onto his knees. A look of realization and complete loss fell over his face as he studied his hands.

"Ken?" She caught his attention. He stood and came over to the floor under it. He didn't have a block under his, so he continued to look up, reaching to her hand, enveloping it in his.

"Ryu…what will this do to the Hadou Ken?" He asked quietly.

Ryu stood underneath their side, by Chun-Li, "I—I don't know…"

Ken smiled slightly and looked away, releasing Chun-Li's hand, even though she refused to let go. He pulled away anyway, "Hey, don't get too attached to that hand. I need that for the next fight, you know."

"How can you joke at a time like this?" She snapped.

"What better time?" Ken sat across the room, just looking at her.

"Can I?" Ryu and Chun-Li exchanged places, "Hey, buddy."

"Hey, Ryu," He leaned forward onto his knees, resting his chin on his fists, "They treating you well?"

He shrugged.

"Best of the best at Hotel Hell," Ken chuckled slightly, "It isn't that bad, once you get your head around the shitty treatment…hey, buddy, don't take this too hard. I saw the kids there."

"You could see what was happening?" Ryu looked at the form of his friend and watched his shoulders sag.

"Bits'n'pieces," The American looked up and sighed, "It ain't gonna be that bad. I won't fight it too much. I mean, isn't there an old saying, something like 'the punches of a friend are more to be desired than the kisses of the enemy'?"

Ryu chuckled, "Something like that…"

"I'll make it easy, but not too easy, for you. I know that you don't like a wimpy opponent, so I'll give you a run for the money," Another chuckle, "Just make sure those kids get out all right, okay?"

"He kept six people, Ken," Ryu said quietly, "He expects you to last through six rounds and he'll release one person for each round I win. He'll probably kill one for each one that I lose."

"Damn…"

"Ken?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't give up too easily…There has to be some way out of this. There's always a way."

"Yeah, I have to give you shit in the fight."

"Just as long as you don't wimp out."

"Course not."

There was a certain length of awkward silence as no one could think of anything to say. Finally, Chun-Li traded places with Ryu and peek through the fairly narrow window, which was just big enough for her to fit her arm through.

"Ken, come here. I want to give you something."

He stood and made his way over to the wall. He reached up and was going to pull himself up when his shoulder, the same one that Ryu had dislocated, gave out on him, "Damn…it feels like somebody dislocated my arm, then popped it back in with a sledgehammer…"

Chun-Li looked at Ryu, and her free hand went to her throat. Ken saw this.

"Damn, what did I do?"

"Ken, I—"

"Tell me!"

"You tried to strangle her," Ryu said quickly.

"Ryu dislocated your arm so you would release me," She turned back to the window, pressing her forehead against the top of the frame, "But its all right. It wasn't your fault…"

"What did you want to give me?" His voice was low, almost husky as he was finally able to pull himself up.

She leaned forward and kissed him, catching his lips with hers.

He pulled away, dropping back to the floor, "No—no, Chun-Li, I'm an enemy now. None of this 'good-bye' crap! I'm not gonna say good-bye, because it's all over anyway. I'm the bad guy. You two fight bad guys. Get it?"

"But, Ken—" Her eyes began to fill with tears.

"Shut up! Just—shut up, Chun-Li!" Ken snapped angrily, "Don't you get it? If you start feeling sorry for me, you won't be able to do it! And all those people will die! You have to kill me! And you can't feel sorry about it!"

He folded his arms over his torn shirt and sat on the block, never again looking up at the window. Chun-Li pleaded with him, and Ryu tried to convince him to talk to them, but to no avail. They gave up, sinking to the floor of their cell in defeat.

Only then did Ken look up, tears staining his cheeks.

It felt like years later when creatures—demons—came to drag Chun-Li and Ryu from their cell. From the sounds of it in the other room, Ken had already been taken away to the battle ring a long time ago…and Chun-Li had cried.

Ryu was given a copy of his old outfit, white karate uniform with the sleeves gone. It fit well and he grimaced at the memories that it brought back. The demons pushed him and Chun-Li into a large, arena-like room, there the floor was a thick white mat. Other than that, the curved walls and ceiling arched high above them.

Ken stood across the room.

He, too, was dressed in his old outfit. Same as Ryu's, only red. His eyes were narrowed and downcast, as if he were unwilling to make eye contact.

A whistle shrilled through the room.

Ken charged.

Yeah, that's pretty much what happened. We found out later that the reason Ken had been chosen was because he could not only channel Hadou Ken, but also this Li-Kang Power, which was why the demon was afraid of him.

You know, I don't think that I'm going to tell you how the story ends. I want to let you fill in the blanks, allow your imagination get the best of you, then you can dream up your own ending.

Did I kill Ken? Did Chun-Li escape this whole mess…and what about the people? Did we somehow escape and destroy the demons' evil schemes to cover the world in their darkness? Oh, there is an ending, and I know it. We all know it.

How do you think it ended?


End file.
